Rachel's engagement party
by notinyourmood
Summary: Quinn shows up at Puck's doorsteps in Lima 6 years later when she finds out of Rachel's engagement party. She asks for an acoustic guitar to.. Gate-crash the party? What exactly is she doing? She doesn't know. Rated for a lil' bit of language


"I don't have time, PUCK! ARE YOU GOING TO HELP ME OR WHAT?"

Puck's eyes widened. He scratched his Mohawk and then, rubbed his eyes. Here, standing at his doorsteps is Quinn. The last time he saw her was what? 6 years ago? And now, here she is, begging him to lend her his acoustic guitar during his gig later at Rachel's engagement party.

Quinn hasn't changed much though, personality-wise. She's still as scary but what that really has changed was her wardrobe. Okay, so she has this star tattoed to her collarbone or shoulder. Puck doesn't really know. And then her hair... HER HAIR! CHOPPED OFF! Styled in this … He doesn't know. Her hair's just real short. Like a boy's. No, like a grown-man's.

He couldn't stop himself from yawning and when he did, Quinn's hand instantly slapped his chest. _Okay. Wow. That actually hurts. Quinn's like super strong now, too?_

"You cut your hair," he said, pointing out the obvious, to which Quinn rolled her eyes to. "You got yourself a tattoo."

"Yeah, yeah. It's not the only one," Quinn brushed him off. She then places her left hand on his door-frame and her right on her hip, "So, are you going to help me or what?"

Puck rubbed his eyes again, hoping that he could like un-blur this image that he's currently seeing. Oh, so apparently he can't. He gulped once, twice before stating, "So, let me get this straight. You flew in from Miami -"

"LA."

Puck narrowed his eyes at her. "What's the difference?"

"It's a big difference!" Quinn yelled, throwing both her hands up.

"Woah. Woah. Okay. Calm down," Puck panicked, "So, you flew in from LA this morning... And you want to gate-crash the party Rachel's hosting. In order to do so, you need my guitar. Not any guitar, my acoustic one... Because you left yours in a haste over in Miami."

"LA, Puck! Pay attention!"

Puck eyed her while she glared at him.

"Heck, sure. Why not? I don't know why though because seriously Quinn? Gate-crashing an event with an acoustic guitar? That's not hardcore at all. I have electric ones, you know.." Puck suggested.

Quinn simply shook her head, "An acoustic guitar will do just fine."

It's 7 pm and all Quinn can think of is how she could pull this off without making a scene. But hey, come on now? Her showing up will obviously make a scene. Her playing the guitar would make a scene. Wait. Scratch that, her mere presence within about 10 metres of the party would probably call for fireworks. She has not been back in Lima for 6 years and she cannot for the life of her explain as to why she is back here to … Gate-crash? Perform? She doesn't know.

So, when she caught herself flagging a cab to the airport and then at the counter in the airport, buying herself the first flight home- Can she even call Lima her home now that she neglected its presence for 6 years? -she is god-damned surprised but as to why she is doing so? She doesn't know. Just like how she doesn't know why she's camouflaging herself as Puck's band-mate to get herself in the party, Rachel's engagement party. No, Rachel's party. No engagements. Just a party.

Just like how her appearance is, Quinn promised herself that she would just gate-crash the party with awesome, awesome music that will blow everyone's minds away and cause them to despise her for bringing her kind of music to such a formal event. But with an acoustic guitar? _Quinn, what is wrong with you?_

Then, the lights dimmed. She hears muffled sounds from the darkness. It was a surprised that no one recognised her. She had been there the whole time. She felt someone tapped her shoulder. She turned around and saw Puck with the guitar she requested.

"Here," he says, handing over the guitar, "Stage's all yours. I don't really know your purpose here, Quinn. Haven't seen you in quite some time and I guess, this must be important. If it wasn't, you would never come back. So... Knock 'em dead?"

It was a pleasant nod he gave her. She turned her gaze to the front and slowly, the lights grew brighter. The muffled sounds became murmurs and then, in a split second, they became full-on gossips. The people here must have recognised her. She gulped. _Just strum a few notes, aites?_

She closed her eyes and felt for the strings. Slowly, she counted them. There's seven of them so the guitar is definitely functional. just like how she should be at the moment. She strummed the first note and instantly, the hall grew quiet. She opened her eyes and she could see everyone's faces; confused and.. Interested? Is she interesting?

She gulped, took a deep breath and started playing a song. She strums a few more notes. She glanced at the microphone and wonders if she should go and sing with it but the hall is so quiet and she does not want to deal with more props. So, she kept playing till it was time to sing the song that she carelessly arranged to fit her vocal range and to make shorter than the original during her flight.

'_You can be the peanut butter to my jelly'_

The words flowed out of her mouth and she gazes over the onlooker spectators. Quinn does not most of them. They must be Rachel's fiance's friends. No, they must be that guy's friend.

'_You can be the sweet tooth I can be the dentist'_

Okay, so, she sees a few heads tilting. They must know the song then. The arrangement's definitely different with the lyrics all jumbled up. She feels a smile creeping up on to her. Quinn takes another step and there she is. There the brunette is. Sitting down at a table with this other bloke with her head tilted to the the side, mouth slightly agape. Quinn's not supposed to be here. Everything that is doing at this moment screams wrong. All of it. But that does not stop her smile from dominating her face.

'_You can be the chills that I feel on our first date'_

Rachel was eyeing her. her eyes widened. Well, they should be. Quinn came back as a total different person. Her hair gone. Tattoos here and there. Thank god, she's wearing a jacket. If she wasn't, the audience is in for a heart attack when they see her left fore arm, filled with tattoos. She glances over to that arm of hers, eyeing briefly at her fingers as they pressed the guitar strings. Maybe tattoing her left arm was a bad idea after all. The first signs of a heart attack would be a darted pain on her left arm. She smirked and looks up.

'_You can be the heart that I spill on the pages'_

Bad move. Once she did, she came face to face with Rachel and that smirk of hers blossomed into a full-on grin. She just felt like stopping the song mid-way and pulling out the notebook she has in her backpack and showing Rachel the picture she drew of her during high school and then, just continue with the song. Why she brought the notebook along? She doesn't know. Heck, she didn't even bring her toothbrush along.

'_You can be the tear that I cry if we ever split'_

As though Rachel could read her mind, the brunette laughed, snorted, gigled and then she does the one thing that Quinn hoped she'd never do, she places her hand on her chin and just mooned at Quinn.. At least, that's what she thinks Rachel is doing.

'_You can be the vodka and I can be the chaser _

_Or you can be the sun when it shines in the mornin' _

_You can be as cold as the winter weather'_

Words flowed and she hit every note. Rachel must be proud. Quinn sees the smile Rachel's wearing and she strums harder.

'_You know that I'll never doubt ya_

_And you know that I think about ya_

_And you know I can't live without ya'_

And just like that she's at the bridge, closing her eyes tightly, singing it with all her heart. Quinn doesn't want this moment to end because even if she does not know what exactly it is that she is doing right now at this moment, at least she'll have this. At least, she knows that she sang her heart out. What exactly did she sing? A song, and that's that. God, why am i doing this?

'_I love the way that you smile_

_And maybe in just a while'_

She opens her eyes and saw a movement. Funny how everything else blurs out except for Rachel but one thing that didn't blur out was the fact that a hand was sneaking towards Rachel's, the one touching her chin. God, Buddha, whoever of a higher power, don't spoil this moment from me. Whoever Quinn prayed to didn't answer her prayer because that hand envelopes Rachel's and soon enough, Rachel's focus was on that bloke beside her. The urge to cough was overwhelming but the urge to stop and trash the guitar on Rachel's table was much more over-empowering.

'_I can see me walk down the aisle'_

Quinn hears herself go soft. Maybe she should have used the mic instead of walking around, singing. Her hands grew limp and soon enough, she stopped strumming. All eyes were strained on her now. so, was Rachel's. Should she continue with the song? She doesn't know. She looks down on her left arm again. Well, the guitar IS an acoustic guitar so she does have a reason to sing without strumming. Hence, she looked up and almost immediately, her eyes were locked on Rachel's and slowly, she continued singing.

'_Cause you're the apple to my pie'_

She strummed once and chuckled as she felt tears filling her eyes. She shakes her head a little.

'_You're the straw to my...'_

Her eyes are back on Rachel's and she pauses before smirking.

'_Berry'_

She hears some chuckling form the room but the tension grew intense again now that everyone is eyeing Rachel and her. Them people, they know the song, didn't they? Were they anticipating something? What? She just doesn't know. _Do I even have a brain?_

'_You're the smoke to my high'_

She snorted. And so did Rachel. could it be that Rachel remembers that one time when she caught Quinn smoking a joint on school grounds? "You're smoking pot now? You know that that smoke can get ME high too?" Rachel said when she saw her at the time.

'_And you're the one I wanna marry'_

And just like that, everyone is silent. Rachel's smile was gone and a tear fell from Quinn's eyes. _Continue strumming, Quinn._

'_Cause you're the one for me for me_

_And I'm the one for you for you_

_You take the both of us of us'_

Quinn held back her other tears though. Eyes still locked on Rachel.

'_And we're the perfect two'_

She sees another movement and Rachel got her hand back. They're free from that bloke. Should she be happy? Because she is, she really is.

'_We're the perfect two_

_We're the perfect two'_

Rachel seemed to be squirming in her seat. Quinn's eyes narrowed, trying to see exactly what the brunette is doing but she failed. Her tears blurred out pretty much all details now.

'_Baby me and you_

_We're the perfect two'_

She sniffed. Quinn Fabray sniffed, in front of a huge number of people. Possibly, the entire Lima population and half of New York. The strumming stopped and straight away, wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her jacket. She then clears her throat.

"Congratulations, Rachel," She nodded once, turned her heels and started walking away.

Now, she knows why she's back in Lima. She's fucking in love with Rachel Berry but Rachel Berry is fucking and in love with that bloke and her purpose for coming back was to fucking have a second chance. No, wait, a single chance because she didn't even have one in the first place.

She handed over the guitar to someone from Puck's band, smiled at Kurt who happened to be standing in her way, walks around him, past Puck before she felt a tug on her jacket. She shrugged it off. _Fucking Puck and his fucking ways. No way is he going to convince me to fucking stay._

She takes another step and that person who tugged her jacket, yanked her arm that she turned a total 180 degrees around. Before she could even acknowledge who spun her, a pair of lips were instantly on hers.

It was a chaste kiss but it was a kiss nonetheless and once the kiss ended, she saw a pair of brown eyes flutter open.

"Wait, no. This is your engagement party. Don't make it seem as though I'm gate-crashing it," responded Quinn when she realized whose eyes they belonged to.

"Quinn, silly. It's not my engagement party," Rachel chuckled.

Quinn's eyes widened and darted to the background. Still, all eyes were on her and Rachel; them. There, she sees Kurt laughing. Her eyebrows knitted.

"Kurt called and said -which by the way, I don't how he managed to do that 'cause I kept in touch with no one for which I am sorry for- but he called and said you're organising an engagement party. And this, Rachel, is your engagement party." From the background she hears Puck joining Kurt's laughter.

Rachel played with the collar of her jacket before smoothing them out and stating, "Well, it is my engagement party but not MY engagement party."

Her eyes narrowed and soon, Quinn hears more laughter from the background.

"This is Finn's engagement party and I'm organizing it. JUST organizing it," Rachel replied.

"Wait," Quinn's eyes moved to that bloke who sat with Rachel earlier on, "Then, who's that bloke?"

Rachel turned around and once she sees who Quinn was referring to, she laughed so loud. "Well, that," Rachel points, "That is my very best friend. My very best GAY friend."

Quinn face turned red. "Who likes guys," Rachel added, "Putting that aside, thank you for returning back to Lima and what a nice arrangement you've put together I might add."

Quinn smiled. Well, how can she not? Rachel's smiling and laughing and smiling. And it doesn't surprise her what she does next. Quinn pulled Rachel a little closer and kissed the lights out of her. Maybe it was a good thing after all to come back to Lima on an impulse.

* * *

><p>Like that? Don't forget to review! Also, there is an alternate ending for which I'll post on my tumblr. Follow me, aites? Other than that, I've finally found out what's wrong with me updating my fics.. the documents are in the wrong format.. Them stories will be uploaded to daytonight. FINALLY! If you haven't read them, you should. DUH!

Anyways, have a good week!


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